


Murder can be Hard Sometimes

by hollyus



Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Assassin AU, Assassin Qibli, F/F, F/M, Lots of it, M/M, Qinter is the focus, Slow Burn, Swearing, Why are there only four fics for Qinter ://, dragons are only for gays now sorry straights :// (jkjk), icewing royalty are queens and kings, mudwings and sandwings are assassins, nightwings are witches, nobody is straight, other ships are side ships, rainwings are commoners/live on the outskirts, seawing royalty are duke and duchess, skywings are also assassins, swearing - thats why its teen rating
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-08 03:58:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11638476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollyus/pseuds/hollyus
Summary: Qibli is an assassin, sent out to kill Prince Winter.





	1. and comes a pretty prince comes the inability to murder him

Qibli woke up with a massive ringing in his head, and aching in both his arms and legs. How did he get up to this point? 

Right. Thorn was sifting through files, with Qibli sitting in the corner of the room- and-and she pulled out a file and handed it to him.

Right! He was suppose to assassinate the prince! WAIT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO ASSASSINATE THE PRINCE! WHERE WAS HE?!

He got up quickly, to the protest of the ringing in his head, and hissed at the pain that came from getting up so quickly, putting his hand over his forehead. He’s already spent so much time searching for the damn prince- the prince wasn’t anywhere in the castle! He’s spent almost all his money for food- and he estimated that he would come back with most of it! 

There were so many times that Qibli remembered where he could’ve simply just shot another prince or princess and succeed- but he had to kill only THIS SPECIFIC PRINCE or break the rules and disappoint Thorn.

He’s disappointed Thorn already hasn’t he? A horrible feeling sank in his stomach and he collapsed back down, sighing. Suddenly he heard walking and shot up, eyeing the door.

“You’re-” The man who was walking in was suddenly assaulted by these balls of fluff, two white and one brown, and the man yelped, falling on the floor. Qibli could see his whole body except for his face which now was covered in fluff. Is the guy alright?

Suddenly three pigeons darted in, pecking at Qibli. One was white while the other were both normal gray. Huh. 

Were those five chickens? Okay, maybe Qibli shouldn’t question this guy’s choice in pets. He turned his head around and saw two large tanks with turtles in them. One was labeled ‘Tootsie’ and the other was named ‘Pop’.

“Floof! Hunk! Cake! Off- I have to talk to the man!” The balls of fluff persisted. “Yes, Floof, you’re very fluffy, now off, off, off!” The man shoved Floof off and the chickens quickly surrounded the- the bunny, it was a rabbit, alright- so it could not go back on the man. “Cake, you’re very adorable, Wooster get them off- Hunk, yes I love you, off off off, Kai get him off!” Two roosters ‘herded’ the two rabbits off. Qibli assumed they were Wooster and Kai. ...What type of name was Wooster?

The man finally stood up, brushing all the fur off his face. Qibli immediately covered his nose and mouth. It might be a bad thing that he’s allergic to fur?

“What, am I that horrible looking?” The man deadpanned. _Dammit this man was unreasonably handsome._ Qibli thought. Wait. Oh no, that man looked like the prince. Shit.

The prince was a light-skinned man with near-white hair that was slicked up except for the fact he also had a long ass ponytail that went down to his elbows. He also had elf-ish ears and killer eyeliner. 

That was exactly what this man looked like.

Okay, maybe this is a fashion statement? Maybe he was in the house of the man who just coincidentally looks like the prince that he’s supposed to assassinate? Besides, wasn’t the prince rumored to be mean or something? He did just see this man’s face covered with three rabbits and also cooing to all of them. 

Then again rumors aren’t very trustworthy, but still. It was known knowledge that all of the royals were diiiiiiicks.

“You’re staring.” 

Qibli yelped in response, apologizing in a small voice over and over again.

The man looked at him skeptically, then sighed. “I’m Winter.” 

“Oh, you’re Winter.” Qibli said. Maybe it was just a coincidence that he was in the house of a man who looked exactly like the prince and had the same name? Maybe Winter is a common name?

“Yes, I’m Winter. What’s your name?” 

“...Qibli.” 

Winter ‘hmphed’ in response. 

“Why am I here?” Qibli asked. 

“You got knocked out in the middle of the blizzard, you idiot.” Winter snapped. Oh yeah. He was planning to get out of the blizzard when something hit his head. Wait- where was his pouch he brought along? 

He looked around wildly and even tried to get up from his- his bed?- but Winter scowled and kept him down. “You looking for your pouch? It’s over there.” He pointed at a satchel in the corner of the room, fit between the cabinets that the turtles were on and several cages. Qibli scrambled to get it and Winter gently elbowed him in the side. “Stop trying to move, for the love of Glacier! You had a concussion!” Winter grabbed the satchel and threw it at Qibli, which Qibli caught. “By the way, I didn’t look through it, since you seem like the type to worry about that stuff.”

“Thanks.” Qibli muttered, feeling the satchel to see if he still had all the things he had in there. Nice, four poison darts, a launcher, two photos, and money. Still had everything.

“Why are you so moody?” Winter asked.

“I could say so for you! I’m surprised somebody like you even has all these pets.” Qibli snorted.

“Wh- Hey!” Winter complained. 

Suddenly, Qibli started coughing up a storm. Ah, shit, the allergy effects were kicking in.

Winter looked at him with this worry in his eyes. “Shit, that hasn’t happened before!” He quickly pulled Qibli up with his arms and the chickens and rabbits quickly surrounded them, while the pigeons just slept in their little cages on the ceiling. Something to note was that this cabin seemed kind of large in size, but it had one room and was built with wood. Kind of dirty. Not fit for a prince, which means that this Winter wasn’t Prince Winter, right? Heh?

They were now outside. Apparently the blizzard hadn’t calmed? It was like the blizzard was just raging continuously except for this weird circle of no-blizzard that Winter’s house was at? 

That’s when it finally caught up to Qibli that they were going to somewhere because of his allergies. “Hey- no- it’s my all-” 

“Don’t waste your energy, don’t talk!” Winter ordered, cutting him off. Winter had slung his arm around Qibli to help Qibli walk better. As a result of this action Qibli was also leaning on Winter’s shoulders. Which Qibli was trying to ignore since _oh my goodness it doesn’t matter what’s happening right now he’s never been this close to someone this cute before._

“Like I said, IT’S MY ALLER-”

“DON’T TALK.” It was obvious that Qibli was never going to get through to him. Qibli sighed and slumped onto Winter’s shoulder. Maybe he could derail Winter by not making an effort to walk at all? Winter, however, just kept on going, though it was evident that now Winter was more panicked because he thought that Qibli didn’t have the energy to walk. Qibli sighed, his plan has failed, and tried his best to walk through this fucking blizzard. Except where ever they walked it seemed that the blizzard made way for them? It seemed that the blizzard was magic. Yeah, probably.

It was still cold as shit though.

Winter was muttering a lot. Also, the chickens and the bunnies were still surrounding them, making it a bit hard to walk around, but it seemed like they were the ones warding off the blizzard? Weird. This blizzard and these pets were probably all magic. Who was the witch who made it so, though?

Through the snow, Qibli saw a house that was much grander than Winter’s. It had purple and gray stones with shiny jewels littered around the walls and a giant light at the top of it. Oh, he saw that light before. 

“HEY. MOON. TURTLE. LET ME IN.”

“Did I not give you enough turtle feed?” A girl’s voice asked through the door. Winter cursed under his breath. Qibli didn’t see Winter feed his turtle, so Winter probably forgot.

“Moon, no, the dude- concussion dude- started coughing really hard.” Winter said. “Is that supposed to happen with this post-concussion syndrome you said?”

“What- NO.” Moon opened the door and let Winter and Qibli in. It was very lit up and seemed like a home-ier version of a hospital or something. They were in the living room which had two couches. Moon sat down on one and Winter and Qibli sat down on the other one. Qibli spotted a man with a small ponytail that was swept to one side, achieving the boring yet simultaneously emo look.

“Moon, I swear, it’s just allerg-”

“Allergies?!” Moon gasped. Oh, so was today cutting off Qibli day? Great. “Well, alright, I’m not sure if allergies do anything bad to you, but you’re probably going to feel more like shit. Uhh, Turtle, can you get some allergy pills?”

Turtle- the emo and boring man- shrugged and walked towards Moon, handing some kind of allergy pill to Moon, that just appeared in his hand? Was Turtle the witch who magicked up the blizzard?

“It’s JUST allergies! Why are you all making such a big deal out of this?” Qibli groaned while Moon took the allergy pills and- well. She also magicked up a cup of water. Who was the witch who magicked up the blizzard?

“Take this, maybe it’ll help your symptoms.” Moon handed the cup of water and the pills to Qibli, and right when he recieved it, his body thought it would be a good time to start coughing violently. He gripped the mug and pills hard and the water sloshed around while he was coughing, some drops escaping. A brown rabbit- Hunk he thinks his name was- and two hens jumped up onto the couch, nudging Qibli gently. 

The rabbit was molting. Great. Now the fur had flown into his face and he just kept coughing. Moon quickly took the cup and pill from his hands while Winter removed Hunk, keeping all the rabbits ways away from Qibli. He just realized that Winter had kept his arm around Qibli this entire time, only because Winter had removed the arm to shoo Hunk and the other rabbits away and he kind of missed the warmth.

His coughing soon eased to an end and the ringing was worse than before. Moon shoved the water and pill in his face.

“Alright.” He plopped a pill in and washed it down with water. 

“How bad is your headache?” Moon asked gently. 

“Pretty bad.” Qibli mumbled.

“HEY- PAIN PILLS!” Moon requested of Turtle.

“Why don’t you just magic them up yourself?” Qibli asked.

“It would be awful powerful if I could magic anything I want, you know that, right? Just because I have magic doesn’t mean I can magic up everything.” Turtle handed Moon a pill and Moon frowned, throwing the pill of the floor. “Ibuprofen will increase chance of bleeding, Turtle, gimme the other type of pill.”

“Acetaminophen, you mean.” Turtle crouched down and magicked away the Ibuprofen pill, and gave Moon Tylenol- a type of Acetaminophen pill.

“Nice.” Moon magicked up more water in the cup and handed the pill and water to Qibli. Qibli downed it both, willing for the horrible headache to just go the fuck away.

“So, what are you allergic to?” Moon asked.

“Winter.” Qibli said.

Winter squawked indignantly. 

“Really?” Turtle said behind the couch.

“No. I’m allergic to fur- basically his rabbits.” 

“Well, I guess you’re going to move him somewhere else, because I am not giving away my rabbits or something in favor of a cute boy, no matter how cute he is.” Winter stated.

“You think I’m cute?” Qibli gasped.

“Shit, did I say that out loud?”

“Yeah, uh, Winter would never give up his rabbits, but Qibli really has no other place to stay and it takes a while to magic up another house and too much effort. I’ll just have Qibli take allergy medicine every day or something.” 

“So I’m going to be staying with Mr. Sparkle Pants?” Qibli asked. “Wait, why do I have to stay?”

“You had a Goddamn _concussion_ , Qibli. It’s not good for you if you just waltz back to where you came from.” Winter said before Moon could say anything.

“How long am I staying for?” Qibli asked.

“Three months to a year.” Moon shrugged.

“THREE MONTHS TO A YEAR?!” Qibli shouted, panic rising in his stomach. 

“If you’re worried about your folks being worried about you or whatever, we can send a messenger.” Moon said.

“I-I, okay.” Maybe in that time Qibli could find a way to kill the prince and Thorn wouldn’t be disappointed in him. Except the prince he needed to kill was probably the dude right next to him who has three adorable balls of fluff but he doesn’t need to linger on that thought. 

“Glad you agree to this!” Moon said delightfully. “Where do you live?”

“...Scorpion Den, in the center, big giant golden building.” Qibli muttered. Hopefully she wouldn’t get that he was an assassin from that since the Scorpion Den wasn’t really that well known. Yet.

“Alright!” Moon smiled. She didn’t seem to get it, so that’s cool. “I’ll go assign somebody to it.”

Winter rolled his eyes.

“Winter, do you want to go see Kinkajou? She’s still in the hospital.” Moon suggested. 

Winter looked at Qibli. “Uh...”

“You can leave Qibli here.” Moon said.

Winter shrugged. “Okay, come on Turtle, I know you want to see Kinkajou.” Turtle pinked but went with Winter anyways. All the chickens and the bunnies followed after him as well.

“Winter has a girlfriend?” Qibli asked.

“Oh, nah, they’re just friends. If Winter was here he would deny that, but they’re friends.” Moon chuckled. 

Qibli nodded. 

“What do you think of Winter? Is he too much?” Moon asked worriedly.

“He’s fine.” Qibli said. 

Moon sighed, relieved. “Okay, that’s good.”

They sat in silence for some time. “There are some magazines over there if you want to pass the time. Some paper too if you want to draw- we have lots of color pencils and normal pencils.” Moon said.

“Let’s play the scribble game!” Qibli said happily.

“The scribble game?” Moon asked.

“You know, one person makes a scribble, then the other tries to make it into an actual drawing thing... You know.” Qibli explained badly.

“Oh, yeah, I played that when I was like...seven... Sure, let’s play!” Moon accepted.

After some time of playing (which included a lot of laughing and bonding), Moon asked a question. “Hey, what’s in that satchel of yours?” Moon asked, prodding at the pouch Qibli had slung over his shoulder.

“Oh?” Qibli looked down at the satchel. “That’s a money pouch.” He hoped he lied as well as it sounded in his head.

“Oh, cool.” Moon said, and it was the end of that conversation. 

After that they continued playing the game until Winter and Turtle got back from visiting Kinkajou in the hospital.

“What the fuck is that?” Winter muttered, analyzing the drawings that came out of this game of Scribble, pointing at Qibli’s horrible drawing of a rat.

“It’s you.” Qibli said.

Winter bristled and frowned. 

“Oh, is it because of his rat tail?” Turtle asked, pointing at Winter’s ponytail. 

Winter gawked, grabbing his ponytail and holding it protectively. The chickens and rabbits crowded around his legs, with a rooster, Qibli thinks it’s Kai, trying to peck at Winter’s ponytail. 

“Kai, no!” Winter scolded. So Qibli was right, it was Kai.

“Winter, have fun with Qibli, you can go now! Bye bye!” Turtle shoo’ed.

“Wait- what’s up with the blizzard?” Qibli asked quickly. He couldn’t believe he forgot to ask about the blizzard while playing Scribble with Moon. 

“Oh, actually, uh, most of us here are fugitives or in hiding. The blizzard is a continuous thing and it stretches very far, almost the size of an actual city. Wherever there are houses there is a circle of no snow, however we can’t cast a spell that gets rid of the cold so we just install heaters. Every person has their own item that clears the way for them if they want to, let’s say, visit a friend. Winter’s is his chickens and bunnies. The blizzard hides us since nobody in their right mind would actually explore this place.” Moon explained. “However, around the outsides of the blizzard there are trees we’ve yet to pluck out.”

“You were hit by a branch, basically.” Winter said.

“Yeah. The blizzard was a magic thing made by me, Turtle, and a few other witches around these parts. I’ll introduce them to you later, but their names are Tsunami, Sunny, Starflight, Clay, and Glory.” Moon said.

“Cool, I’d like to see them sometime soon.” Qibli said.

Moon smiled. “Alright! Now go, bye bye!”

Qibli nodded and Winter snaked his arm around Qibli again. For support.

“Good fucking bye!” Winter yelled, dragging Qibli out.


	2. am i REALLY settling into domestic life with the man i'm supposed to assassinate?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prev - chapter one | and comes a pretty prince comes the inability to kill him  
>  now - chapter two | am i REALLY settling into domestic life with the man i'm supposed to assassinate?  
> next - chapter three | oh fuck quick uhhh gotta lie how was your day handsome man

After that, they had returned to Winter’s home, Winter making a point to shove the rabbits away from Qibli while walking there.

Qibli collapsed onto ‘his’ bed, a hen and the smaller one of the two gray pigeons immediately coming up to him. “Hello!”

“Are you allergic to feathers?” Winter asked.

“Nah. Just fur.” Qibli answered. Goddammit, he wanted to pet those balls of floof _so dang bad_. He sighed. The hen that came up to him was pretty friendly and kind of fluffy for a chicken, so he was satisfied for now. However, he’ll definitely try to pet Winter’s bunnies when Winter isn’t around.

While he pet the hen, the pigeon pecked at him mercilessly. Winter rolled his eyes. “Come on, Gretel, off! Off the man!” He gently grabbed the pigeon and the pigeon squawked. He put it back in the cages it belonged in, that was labeled ‘Gretel’. There were two other cages with pigeons in them, one a white pigeon with the tag ‘Snow White’ and the other with a gray pigeon that had a tag that read ‘Hansel’.

Winter pointed at the hen who had settled down comfortably next to Qibli, leaning into Qibli’s touch. “Allura likes you.”

“Ooh, her name is Allura?” Qibli said, turning to Allura. “A pretty name for a pretty hen, yes?” Allura cooed, sounding like a chicken version of a purr. Huh.

“Allura, no, don’t get comfortable around him!” Winter complained, motioning for Allura to come to him. Allura didn’t.

Qibli cackled. “The girl is mine!” 

“Aw, Allura!” Winter moaned. Qibli grinned. 

“What time is it?” Qibli asked. It was pretty hard to tell what time of day it was when it was just constant snow outside.

“Time for me to feed my turtles.” Winter stated, first tapping very gently on their cages and then dropping some lettuce and chicken in their tanks, cooing at his turtles. They were pretty small, in Qibli’s opinion. Both the turtles were a different species- Pop a boring grayish color, while Tootsie was beautifully patterned, with yellows and orange. 

“What type of turtles are those?” Qibli asked.

“Pop’s an African Aquatic Sideneck Turtle, and Tootsie is a Central American Wood Turtle.” Winter said. “Alright, that’s all, Tootsie Pop!” He stopped giving them food and put it in the cabinet that the turtles’ tanks were on. In the cabinet were a variety of pet things, actually.

“Seriously, though, what time is it?” Qibli asked.

“I have a clock.” Winter pointed to a brown clock that was actually kind of camouflaged with the wall, but now that Qibli knew where it was he felt stupid for not noticing it before. 

“Oh.” The clock read 5:47 PM. “Isn’t it time for dinner and stuff?”

“I know. Do you know how to cook?” Winter asked. “No, Moon would kill me if I requested that of you.” Winter groaned.

“I can steal coconuts.” Qibli suggested lightheartedly.

“You can steal yourself food from other houses.” Winter said. “Bring Allura with you.”

“...Eh?”

“I’m kidding.” Winter sighed. The house, like mentioned earlier, was one very big room, so Qibli just sat in his bed while Winter cooked in his corner kitchen that was approximately 10 feet away from him.

“What are you cooking?” Qibli asked.

“Fried rice and red bean pancake.” Winter said. “Weird combination, I know, but I’ve never made food for 14 before.”

“...14?” Qibli asked, confused.

“My pets.” Winter sighed. On cue, Hunk and Cake the rabbits and Hansel the pigeon immediately darted over to Winter. “No, you may not have the food.” He shooed Hansel and Hunk away and shoved Cake off of him (Cake had tried to climb up his leg). 

Qibli started rummaging through Winter’s cabinets and fridge. Qibli pulled out a small bottle of something that was light beige with red markings. “What’s this?”

“That’s Yakult. Why are you going through my things?” Winter asked.

“I’m bored.”

“Go play with the chickens. Do you want me to go through your pouch?” Winter huffed.

“Point taken.” Qibli chuckled. Allura had stayed where his bed was and Qibli returned to it. “Hey girl.” Allura chirped in response. Qibli started to pet her when the other four chickens crowded around him.

“Hello, charming friends of Allura!” Qibli said happily. He played with them while Winter cooked. A while after the man called for Qibli, and Qibli got one of the hens (the other one, not Allura) off his lap, bounding over to Winter.

“Dinner, huh? Romantic~” Qibli grinned.

“Moon forced me to keep you, you cut off tentacle.” Winter snapped.

“Ooh, nice insult.” Qibli laughed.

“Maybe I shouldn’t give you food then.”

“Can you even eat all this by yourself?” Qibli gestured to the food.

“Yes.” Winter said confidently, though there was a sparkle of doubt in his eyes.

“You can’t.”

“Yes I can.”

“Sure. Just- gimme.” Qibli reached for one of the two plates filled with fried rice and wolfed it down.

“You’re messy.” Winter pointed out, neatly eating his own food with chopsticks while Qibli was leaning down and shoving food into his mouth.

“Alas, I am, your elegancy.” Qibli snorted, mouth half full. There was a third plate filled with what Qibli presumed to be red bean pancake for the two to just grab. He picked up three and put two of them on his plate that used to be filled with fried rice and started chowing down on the one he picked. Qibli was hungry and Winter’s food looked good, okay?

When Qibli had finished Winter was still eating like a goddamn prissy prince. Except Winter wasn’t the prince, right? Ha, ha, ha... 

He’s not prepared to kill Allura’s father, okay? He’s not ready to betray Allura, so early on, anyways.

Dammit, why did he have to get attached to Allura?

“I’m going to go look at the turtles.” Qibli stated.

“Okay.” Winter responded.

Qibli approached the turtles, looking into Pop’s eyes. Pop was about five inches long. Qibli didn’t think that Pop was at his greatest length yet.

Tootsie was covered in bright colors, or at least bright for a _turtle_.

Qibli giggled, comparing the two turtles to the actual person Turtle. Well they were all slow and sluggish, that’s a similarity.

Qibli softly knocked on Pop’s glass tank, making cooing noises.

“Don’t knock on their tanks.” Winter said sharply. It seemed that Winter was done eating- he had finished his own fried rice and was currently wrapping up the leftover red bean pancakes.

“Didn’t you do it earlier?” Qibli asked.

“Yeah. When I was feeding them.” Winter huffed. He looked at the turtles. They were swimming around erratically. “I’m not going to feed them again so, great job, you just made them upset.” Winter washed his hands then went up to the turtles, holding out his finger, letting the turtles boop his hand. He then removed his hand and went to the sink, washing his hands thoroughly again.

“What do we do now?” Qibli asked. It was still, like, 7.

“You can go play with the pets. I’m just going to draw.” Winter huffed, pulling out a sketchbook and flipping halfway through it.

“You draw?” Qibli asked as he chased down Wooster with Star and Allura at his feet (Winter had two hens; Allura and Star. He also had three roosters; Wooster, Kai, and Lance.). He clicked his tongue several times and Wooster came to him, and he grinned, petting Star while hugging Allura and leaning his leg into Wooster.

“You don’t get eyeliner like mines with shitty art skills.”

“Makeup is art?” Qibli asked, booping Star’s forehead.

“Uh, yeah it is? It can take me hours to get it right.” Winter snapped. He seemed defensive about this subject.

“That’s going to be a delight in the morning.” Qibli sighed.

“It’s not like you’re going to be going out unless you absolutely have to.” Winter snorted.

“How are you going to get your groceries?” Qibli asked.

“You can take care of yourself, even after getting a concussion.” Winter reasoned. “You don’t seem the type to just get another concussion.”

“How are you sure I’m not just going to leave?” Qibli quipped.

“Because you love the chickens too much.”

“How do you know I won’t just take the chickens?”

“You know that you would probably kill the chickens under your shit care.”

“Okay, touché.” Qibli chuckled. They did their own thing in silence until Winter got up and started to usher the chickens and rabbits out. It was 9:30 PM.

“What are you doing?” Qibli asked, grieving the loss of touch from Allura.

“Chickens and rabbits still need to fucking rest. They sleep outside.” He walked out with the chickens and rabbits and Qibli followed him. Next to the house was a big-ish field lined with fences. There were also several cages and chicken coops alongside the fences. Winter put the chickens and rabbits in the right places. 

“Oh, I’m guessing it’s time for us to sleep too?” Qibli asked as they reentered the house.

“Time for you to sleep. I’m going to finish the drawing I started then go to sleep.” Winter said gruffly.

Qibli shrugged. “Alright. I don’t feel sleepy, though.”

“I know. Just try your best.”

Qibli nodded and sat down on his bed, fidgeting with his pouch. He could kill Winter right now. It was pretty simple- nobody would come and capture Qibli while he runs because of the blizzard, and Winter had his guard down, focusing on his sketchbook. However, for some reason, he just... Couldn’t. 

He doesn’t know why, he’s killed countless people before. Why can’t he kill Winter now? He curled up in his sheets thinking.

Shit. He got to know the target a little too personally.

It’s not like he knew that much about Winter- but certainly a lot more than when he was just searching the castle aimlessly with poison darts in his hand. He can already see Thorn’s disappointed face.

“Stop thinking.” Winter snapped, looking up from his sketchbook. “Or at least stop thinking such negative thoughts.” Oh shit, Qibli didn’t control his facial expression. He quickly managed a weak smile. 

“Uh, okay, yeah, can do, captain!” Qibli grinned, shifting around in his covers, facing downwards so Winter doesn’t catch his expression twisting again.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Can do, Master.” 

“That sounds weirder, just please stop.” Winter grimaced. 

Qibli giggled but didn’t say anything in response. Winter went back to sketching, looking up from it every once and awhile to look at his turtles. Qibli deduced that Winter was drawing his turtles.

Now he was bored. Is it time to get back to worrying about Thorn? Oh boy, yes it is! 

However, a thought instantly flashed at the back of his mind. He hated it and tried to suppress it, but alas, the damage was already done. Maybe it was a person he regretfully liked? Negative thoughts about what was happening that would disappoint any good person?

No, it was none of those, he had thought about breathing and forgot how to instinctively breath, so now he has to control his breathing and is now aware of it. Thanks, mind!

It took a while and also endless thoughts, but he eventually fell asleep, even if it took like two hours (even Winter- who had finished his drawing an hour in- had fallen asleep before him!).

The next weeks or so had a similar pattern- Winter would do his things, make his make-up which took around 30 minutes (this meant over the past, what, 45 days, Winter had spent around _22 and a half hours_ doing his make-up) and then feed his rabbits and pigeons. Then he would go out to help with Moon and Turtle’s hospital, for like two hours, and he always came back with pills for Qibli. Then he would make lunch, feed his rabbits again and continue drawing something, then sometimes go out walking a little with his rabbits and chickens. Of course, Qibli was invited to _none_ of these walking sessions. 

Then Winter would come back, feed his turtles- sometimes he feeds them with _live goldfish_! The first time he did that Qibli thought he was getting a new pet!- then he would make dinner, sit around drawing some more, while Qibli plays with his pets (he’s pretty sure the pets think Qibli is their owner as well at this point). 

Every week on Saturdays, he would go out at about 3 p.m. and return around 5 p.m. with lots of food for the pets. On Mondays he would buy food for the two actual human beings. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, Winter would be working with other people until after lunch, so Qibli, for lunch on those days, would just make a ham and cheese sandwich, with a yakult for the drink. He had found that yakult were very, very, delicious. Then he would wash his hands and play with the pets. Like he always does.

The pets are great and all and Qibli adores Allura and Star- but it gets kind of boring.

Sometimes, when he was bored, he would stare at Tootsie and Pop’s little eyes. They flapped around- didn’t give a shit about anything. He got attached to them- fuck he got attached to them!- and forced Winter to teach him how to feed them. Winter was wary and still is now, but Qibli’s gotten the hang of feeding the little things. He thinks. Well, he tries his best.

When he’s not playing with the pets, he usually just spends time looking through his pouch, fidgeting with his launcher and just staring at the items he has in there. 

There were times where Winter was sketching peacefully, his guard fully down, that Qibli would slowly unzip his pouch- maybe he didn’t have to disappoint Thorn- but when he grabs his launcher and the darts he just doesn’t have the will to _do it_ , and he puts it back. Those were the only times he wished he was as detached to people as Blister- one of the most terrifying assassin leaders before Thorn came into play- was. Except Blister was cruel and he doesn’t want to be like Blister. Sometimes, though, he guesses that there are just times you want to be like someone who’s as smart as Blister.

He also got to know Winter more personally. Well, it’s not like he knows much about Winter’s personal life outside of the blizzard, in fact Winter hasn’t even hinted at the fact that he’s the prince. 

However, he knows little things about Winter. Winter hates getting snow in his corner kitchen, but he’s fine with it anywhere else, even his bed. He just kind of stares at it and wipes it away, but if you get the snow even three feet near his food- he will aggressively wipe it out like it’s satan on earth. 

He also favors his rabbits, especially Floof. On multiple occasions he’s let Floof get a taste of his food (when it was safe for rabbits to eat it, of course) before it’s ready. He will downright refuse Qibli if he asks.

He also doesn’t laugh very much. He’s mostly a sarcastic man with a resting sad face that is usually quieter than most people, which Qibli’s headaches thanked the Gods for. However, since Winter doesn’t seem to experience joy, one of Qibli’s goals is to make Winter laugh. He’s already done it two times but he wants to do it more. Winter- an already very pretty man- is unbelievably pretty when he laughs or smiles. It _stunned_ Qibli at first, but he learned to appreciate it, not be surprised by it. 

Also- the wicked man likes to _lick_ his popsicles. It takes forever just for him to finish one small popsicle. Winter’s also appalled at Qibli’s taste in pineapple pizza- which is _amazing_. Winter doesn’t like pizza all that much- Qibli knows, a true crime- but he doesn’t like pineapple pizza _even more_. Qibli’s stance on the pineapple pizza is that the pizza has fruit other than tomato and pizza in it which is amazing- that being said, Qibli appreciates pretty much all food, but pineapple pizza is something he genuinely really likes. It’s so sensible. Savory and sweet going together! Genius! Winter also refuses to buy pizza ever since Qibli told him about the fact that he likes pineapple pizza. Uuughh.

He’s also taken a peek at Winter’s sketches- but only a small one before Winter quickly snatched it away from Qibli. He was really good at drawing. He had captured Moon talking to someone amazingly, all in tons of messy lines with the only color on there being her silver freckles. Witches have interesting physical appearances, man. Winter got really embarrassed and upset though, so Qibli felt really bad about it and didn’t look at his sketchbook again. He can always recall his artwork of Moon, though.

Over the about one and a half month he’s been here so far, he notices a lot of little things- especially about Winter- that he finds endearing. He is still yet to kill Winter, however. 

He doesn’t know how, he just knows he has to do it. Maybe he should start plotting in bed. That would be awkward, plotting the death of someone who’s in the same room as you, though. Maybe he should start plotting the death of Winter when Winter’s gone. That would be less boring than just trying to flap and be one with the chickens, yeah? Yeah.

So, it’s morning, he’s ready for Winter to leave and plot his death. Yeah. Except Winter is now dragging him to the bathroom. 

“If you really think I’m going to let you look this shitty in front of Moon, you’re wrong. Because she’s going to think I’m not taking care of you well enough.” Winter snapped, brushing through Qibli’s hair. “When was the last time you brushed?!”

“Well, I, uh, generally don’t.” Qibli chuckled half-heartedly. Winter shot him a disapproving glare. “My hair is a like a jungle. It has too much tangles. You should give up- ow!” Qibli yelped. Winter had pulled on one of his knots.

“I’m gonna do it.” Winter said like he was threatening Qibli.

“Well, okay, what’s happening, why do I have to go out, and we’re probably going to be late to wherever you drag me to if you attempt to tame my knots.” Qibli said. Winter stopped and hesitated for a moment. Then he sighed and lowered the brush, grabbing a can of hair spray.

“I hate that you’re probably right. Whatever, I’ll just make it _look like_ you don’t have ten years of hair knots or something.” Winter huffed, quickly spraying the hairspray on and shaking the can every once and awhile. “Also, we’re going to your month-and-a-half appointment with Moon or something. To check on you and see if you’re okay.”

“Well, I feel like how I usually do.” Qibli argued.

“I thought you wanted to get out for once.”

“Well, yeah, I do.” Qibli sighed. “Lead the way, I guess?” Winter had a slight genuine smile on his face, in which Qibli wanted to punch the air in celebration. 

Before dragging him to the bathroom, Winter had already put on his eyeliner, giving no hint that Qibli had to go out as well, or else Qibli would’ve tried to freshen up a bit more. However, after messing with Qibli’s hair and other things, Winter forced Qibli outside. Allura and Lance stuck by his feet while Cake walked with Winter, having gotten the memo that the he (Cake and Hunk were both guy rabbits- Floof was the only girl) and the other rabbits were not allowed near Qibli. Qibli still grieves over his allergy because the rabbits are _so damn cute_.

He was still kind of annoyed Winter didn’t tell him about the check-up. Whatever. 

They got to the hospital and Winter went in with no knock or anything. Huh.

“Moon!” He called, looking around for his friend. Or at least Qibli is pretty sure that they’re friends. Winter would deny it but then again he would deny friendship with everybody, even one that he’s been buddy buddy with for a long time.

“Oh, Winter! Qibli! Yeah, just let me do something real quick, I’ll be right there!” Moon said, popping her head from outside a patient’s room. She went back inside and talked with who Qibli thinks was the patient- and Qibli swears the other person sounds familiar.

She stepped out and walked towards the two. “Heh, sorry, the dude’s sister is in that hospital room and he’s really worried. I tried to calm him down but I think it only worked a little bit.” Oh, so she was not talking with the patient, rather the patient’s _brother_.

“Yeah, alright.” Winter said curtly, obviously impatient and wanting to get this over with.

“I’m feeling fine.” Qibli stated. Moon raised her eyebrow and asked him several questions. He answered all of them quickly and Moon seemed satisfied with his answers. 

“If I wasn’t so busy I probably would’ve examined you a bit more, but I don’t think anything went wrong. You don’t look like somebody who’d lie.” Moon chuckled. She turned to Winter. “In another one and a half months, make sure he comes back for another appointment, alright?”

“You’ve already told me. Of course.” Winter huffed.

Suddenly, a head popped out of the room that Moon previously was in, probably to state his worries. 

“Moon, is this supposed to happen- wait-” Wait-

“QIBLI?”

“UMBER?” 

Umber took a quick look at whom Qibli assumed was one of his sisters, but then came bounding out afterwards. “Where have you been?!”

“Uh?”

“We all thought you were dead!” Umber said, upset. “You were gone for like two months!”

“I thought Moon had sent a messenger!” Qibli said unhappily, looking at Moon accusingly.

“Wait- but they told me that they gave the message successfully!” Moon said unhappily, frowning. 

“Who did you even send as a messenger?” Winter said with his arms crossed and looking distantly at somewhere that was not any of the people. That’s how Winter tried to communicate that he was not interested in something that he actually was interested in.

“Well, the committee of witches and I were really busy, so I just sent Magnificent.” Moon said guiltily.

“Idiot! Why would you send Magnificent?” Winter snarled. “Why not at least Deathbringer or something? Magnificent and her friends are like, the _least_ trustworthy!” 

“I thought they were better now! I thought at least if they didn’t get the message to the Scorpion Den then they would’ve _said so!_ ” Moon frowned, starting to play with her hands unhappily.

Qibli would’ve quipped about the fact that Winter actually cared if he didn’t get a wave of emotions from the fact that Thorn and the others thought he was dead. 

“Wait, why are you here?” Qibli asked.

“I could ask you the same thing!” Umber said.

“Yeah, well, I asked first. Why are you here?”

Umber sighed. “Sora tried to kill Princess Icicle since she just snapped for some reason. Like, in the middle of the night. Without telling anybody about anything.” Umber was trying to imply that she went without Thorn’s permission. Since it would be kind of problematic for these people to find out that they’re assassins. 

“Oh?” Qibli frowned.

“Princess Icicle?” Winter said in an unbelieving tone. Right. Princess Icicle was his sister. Though he didn’t look like he cared about somebody trying to kill his sister. Or maybe he’s covering it up. Or maybe his sister is just really fucking shitty.

“Yeah, she’s the one who killed Crane.” Umber said softly. Qibli let out a little ‘oh’. Umber looked up. “She also thought that the royalty killed you as well.” Qibli let out another ‘oh’.

“Anyways, why are you here?” Umber asked, changing the subject. By this point, Moon had already gone away, presumably to look at a patient, and Winter was playing with Lance, Allura, and Cake, completely disengaged from the conversation. 

“I got a concussion...I have to stay here for at least another one and a half months...” Qibli laughed nervously. Umber looked at him, disbelieving.

“ _What?!_ ” Umber said. “Are you okay?”

“Well, I have a slight headache and everything’s a bit blurry, but those are just common symptoms of things that happen after concussions... So yeah, I’m okay.” Qibli grinned, thumbing up.

Umber frowned. “You look like you haven’t slept.”

“...Insomnia and general trouble with sleep is also a common symptom of post concussion situations.” 

Umber sighed in response.

“Do you think I should make Moon send another messenger? Or can you do that?” Qibli asked.

“You should probably ask Moon, I don’t think I can return with Sora or she could face penalty, and I’m not going to leave her somewhere.” Umber chuckled, scratching the back of his head.

_...That is true._ Qibli thought. “Alright, I’ll do that then.”

“Yeah. Good talk Qibli, but I think I’m going to return to Sora.” Umber smiled.

“Alright.” Qibli awkwardly waved goodbye and Umber chuckled, awkwardly waving goodbye back as he disappeared into his sister’s hospital room.

“Come on, let’s go home already.” Winter huffed.

Qibli ignored him. “Where’s Moon?”

“I said let’s go-” Winter sighed, realizing he wouldn’t be able to convince Qibli and leaning his head back, closing his eyes in exasperation. “She’s down the hall...Somewhere. In one of the patient’s room.”

“Wow, that’s really helpful.” Qibli said sarcastically. Winter made a shoo’ing motion with his hands and Cake started to nibble at Winter’s ponytail. Qibli nodded and walked down the hallway, quickly examining all of the patient’s rooms to see if Moon was in there.

Qibli was glad that Moon came out of whichever room she was in right then- he thinks he could’ve missed Moon if he just simply walked by.

“Oh- Qibli! I’m assuming you want me to send another messenger.” Moon said nervously. “I’ll get right on it.” Qibli nodded appreciatively.

“Thanks, Moon. Make sure they’re trustworthy this time?” Qibli said.

“Yes, I will. I will also make them record a video of them telling your folks.” Moon smiled. 

“Alright, thanks.” Qibli gave Moon a quick wave goodbye as he walked back down the hallway. Except Moon was too, probably because her computer and other things were in the main room. However, he did just wave her goodbye. Now it’s awkward. Why does he do this?

He turned to Winter. “Ay.”

Winter looked up from almost burying his face in his rabbit’s fur. “Finally. Took you long enough.” Qibli rolled his eyes in response. Winter got up and shoved Cake off. “Bye Moon.” He said. Moon, who had went to her computer looked up, smiled, and said bye to Winter as well. 

The two quickly went back to Winter’s home. “I’m gonna go out again.” Winter said curtly, looking at Qibli. “You just..take care of yourself.” 

Qibli nodded. Winter had taken the three rabbits to navigate the blizzard and went back out. He stared at his pouch that laid underneath his blanket. He did say he would plot his death today, right? That’s kind of awkward, though. 

Qibli sighed and cracked his knuckles. _Time to try and maybe muster up the energy to kill Winter._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this ones longer than the first chapter, but dont go thinking that chapters will get longer and longer lol
> 
> come yell at me about gay dragons -  
> tumblr: hollyluia
> 
> next chapter title: oh fuck quick uhhh gotta lie how was your day handsome man

**Author's Note:**

> idk what the fifth chicken's name is going to be, suggestions in comments?  
> ANYWAYS yay gay dragons guys !!!! :))
> 
> talk to me about dragons -  
> tumblr: hollyluia


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